“When I grow up, I want to be a scientist or an astronaut,” fifth grader Bray’aunna Delane said. “She was a big inspiration to me.”
The “she” was born in 1956—someone like Bray’aunna who loves math and science. Someone she might not have known about if she hadn’t studied and researched Mae Jemison, the first African-America female astronaut. Bray’aunna learned fun facts about her newly discovered role model in her Language Arts Class.
“Mae Jemison appeared on an episode of Star Trek, and she’s in the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Her uncle introduced her to science,” said Bray’aunna.
Bray’aunna rattled off facts that made you think for a moment that she was Jemison. She and her classmates were part of a Wax Museum at Brandon Elementary that celebrated Black figures and their contributions on society. Finishing up her presentation she gushed “Math is my favorite!”
“This is our second year to do the project,” Donna Gergan, fifth grade English Language Arts teacher at Brandon Elementary. “It gives the kids an opportunity to do a large-scale project that is relevant to them, a passion project. It is more about modern day African Americans and some from the past. We let them decide which one was relevant to them and let them present about them.”
